Three Steps to Encounter
An encounter is not just a meeting.
Recently, when I looked up the roots of the English word encounter, I discovered that it frequently refers to a chance meeting of two hostile groups or individuals. It can also refer to an unexpected romantic or celestial meeting, but in most contexts, when we use encounter, we mean something shocking or uncomfortable or even combative. If I happened, while shopping at the grocery store, to run into someone who had harmed my family, that would be an encounter. And I would wish I could have avoided it.
I wonder, then, at our frequent use of the word encounter to speak of our relationship with God. And whether we know what we’re asking for when we pray for encounters with him. In fact, the more I think about it, encounter seems like an appropriate word for what happens when human meets divine. Before we knew him, conflict existed between our nature and his, and after we received his forgiveness, a transformative conflict continues, in which his presence changes us into his image.
Encounter is not a coffee date with God. It’s an experience of transformation in which the parts of us that are in conflict with him are purified and healed and restored into his glory. As the apostle Paul wrote, “But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18 NASB).
With this definition of encounter in mind, here are three steps to encountering God.
1. See God accurately. This is what Paul meant when he talked about beholding God with an unveiled face (2 Cor. 3:18). Paul was referring to the time when Moses had to veil his face after meeting with God because the Israelites couldn’t bear to look on God’s glory (Ex. 34:29-35). God wanted his people to live in his presence, in his glory, but they were afraid. They chose rules over relationship and begged Moses to be the mediator between them and God (Ex. 20:18-21). Although God had repeatedly shown himself to be kind and compassionate, they doubted him. He had rescued them from Egypt, provided food in the wilderness, and demonstrated great patience with their complaining, yet they still feared him. They couldn’t see his heart.
The old covenant, which God gave at Sinai, provided atonement for the Israelites (looking forward to the cross), but it did not provide relationship. Thus, the people rebelled against God repeatedly. They saw him as a taskmaster when he wanted to be their Father. The veil meant to shield them from God’s glory actually hardened their hearts against him (2 Cor. 3:14-15). They didn’t want to see God’s glory, and that barrier caused them to misunderstand his heart toward them.
Yet God’s heart has always been for intimacy. The first step to encounter is to believe that God is good and loving and he longs to reveal himself to you. To see him with unveiled faces, we need to see the Father as Jesus revealed him.
2. Know God is always with you and in you. This is what Paul meant when he talked about “looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18 NASB). If we behold his glory as in a mirror, that means we are metaphorically seeing his glory in our own reflection. (Of course, this does not mean we are the same as God or that we are worshipping ourselves. Far from it! We are one with God, but we do not become God.) This is the great mystery of the gospel—Christ in us, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27).
In the Old Testament, people greatly feared the loss of God’s presence. Moses begged God not to remove his presence from Israel (Ex. 33:15). David cried out, “Do not take Your Holy Spirit from me” (Ps. 51:11 NASB). And Isaiah declared, “Oh, that You would tear open the heavens and come down” (Isa. 64:1 NASB). But Jesus forever abolished the fear of losing his presence when he sent his Spirit to live within us. Jesus already came down. We don’t have to beg for his presence. He is always with us and in us, which means we have continuous access to his presence, no matter what.
The second step to encounter is believing God is with and in you. You don’t have to beg for his presence, because he is already here. You are made to be a presence-carrier. No matter where you are, he is with you, as close as your next breath.
3. Embrace God’s transformative power. A true encounter involves transformation as we are changed into God’s image from glory to glory. As we behold him, we become like him. This is how we grow up in our faith—by inviting his presence to transform our hearts and renew our minds (Rom. 12:2). This is not just an intellectual experience, but a holistic (spirit, soul, and body) experience of knowing and being known that transcends what our minds can understand.
David wrote, “They looked to Him and were radiant…” (Ps. 34:5 NASB), and that is what happens when we encounter God. As we spend time in his presence, we become radiant with his glory. Who we once thought we were bows before who he is in us, and we are changed. The third step to encounter is simply saying yes to God’s desire to transform you. Spend time in his presence and welcome the transformative conflict of encounter as he changes you into his image from glory to glory.
Living a life of encounter with God is not so much about what you do as it is about what you believe. See God’s heart for you. Know he is already with and in you. And welcome his power at work in you. He knows how to make you radiant.
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